- In full:
- CĂ©sar Abraham Vallejo
- Born:
- March 16, 1892, Santiago de Chuco, Peru
- Died:
- April 15, 1938, Paris, France (aged 46)
CĂ©sar Vallejo
-
Who was CĂ©sar Vallejo?
CĂ©sar Vallejo (1892â1938) was a Peruvian poet who became a significant voice for social change in Spanish American literature while in exile.
As the 11th child of mixed Spanish and Quechua Indian parents, Vallejo experienced poverty and injustice, influencing his work. His first poetry book, Los heraldos negros (1918), explored themes of loss and social injustice.
In 1920, political involvement led to imprisonment, intensifying his depression and shaping his major work, Trilce (1922), which broke with tradition through innovative language and imagery.
Leaving Peru for Paris in 1923, he connected with avant-garde artists and embraced Marxism, believing literature should serve the masses. His experiences in the Spanish Civil War inspired Poemas humanos (1939), portraying an apocalyptic vision of industrial society.
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Where was CĂ©sar Vallejo from?
CĂ©sar Vallejo was a Peruvian poet born in Santiago de Chuco, Peru, on March 16, 1892. He became a significant voice for social change in Spanish American literature while in exile. His parents were of mixed Spanish and Quechua Indian origin. Vallejo witnessed the injustices, hunger, and poverty endured by the Indians of the region, which later influenced his writings.
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What type of writing is CĂ©sar Vallejo known for?
CĂ©sar Vallejo, a Peruvian poet, is known for his avant-garde and socially conscious writing. His works often explore themes of social injustice, human suffering, and the disparity between human potential and the limitations imposed by biological existence and social structures. Vallejo broke with poetic tradition, employing neologisms, colloquialisms, startling imagery, and typographic innovations to convey his feelings. His later works, influenced by Marxism and the Spanish Civil War, present an apocalyptic vision of a society in crisis.
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What themes did CĂ©sar Vallejo explore in his poetry?
CĂ©sar Vallejo, a Peruvian poet, explored themes of social change, injustice, and oppression in his poetry. His work often reflected his personal experiences with poverty, hunger, and the injustices faced by indigenous people. The loss of his mother and brother deeply affected him, contributing to a sense of life's futility that he expressed in his poems. Vallejo's commitment to Marxism led him to believe that literature should serve the masses by describing the human condition without traditional constraints. His experiences during the Spanish Civil War further shaped his apocalyptic vision of a society plagued by alienation and despair.
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How did CĂ©sar Vallejo's life influence his writing?
CĂ©sar Vallejo's life experiences profoundly shaped his poetry. Witnessing poverty and injustice against indigenous people during his childhood informed his later focus on social change. The deaths of his mother and brother instilled in him a sense of life's futility, a recurring theme in his works. His imprisonment in 1920, due to political involvement, deepened his depression and influenced his experimental style in Trilce, where he expressed the disparity between human aspirations and limitations. Living in poverty in Paris and feeling like an outsider further fueled his commitment to Marxism and the cause of the masses, evident in his proletarian novel El tungsteno and his later poetry.
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Why is CĂ©sar Vallejo considered important in world literature?
CĂ©sar Vallejo, a Peruvian poet, is considered a major voice of social change in Spanish American literature. His works often explore themes of social injustice, human suffering, and the limitations imposed on individuals by society.
Vallejo broke with poetic tradition, incorporating neologisms, colloquialisms, and startling imagery to express the disparity between human aspirations and the constraints of biological existence and social structures. His experiences, including witnessing poverty and injustice, and his imprisonment for political involvement, profoundly shaped his poetry.
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CĂ©sar Vallejo (born March 16, 1892, Santiago de Chuco, Peruâdied April 15, 1938, Paris, France) was a Peruvian poet who in exile became a major voice of social change in Spanish American literature.
Born the 11th child to parents who were both of mixed Spanish and Quechua Indian origins, Vallejo as a child witnessed at first hand hunger and poverty and the injustices done to the Indians of the region. He attended the University of Trujillo (1913â17), where he studied both law and literature, writing a thesis entitled El romanticismo en la poesĂa castellana (âRomanticism in Castilian Poetryâ; published 1954).
Vallejoâs first book of poems, Los heraldos negros (1918; âThe Black Heralds [or Messengers]â), showed him still under the stylistic influence of Parnassianism and Modernism in his exploration of what were to be his major themes: his loss of security when his mother and an older brother died; his resulting sense of the futility and inherent limitations of life; and the inability of human beings to achieve their potential because of social oppression and injustice.
In 1920 Vallejoâs involvement in political matters concerning Indians led to his imprisonment for nearly three months. This experience heightened his feeling of loss at the death of his mother and contributed to a state of depression that was to torment him the rest of his life. Escalas melografiadas (1922; âMusical Scalesâ), a collection of short stories, and many of the more complex poems of Trilce (1922; Eng. trans. Trilce) were conceived during his imprisonment. In his major work Trilce, Vallejo signaled his complete break with tradition by incorporating neologisms, colloquialisms, typographic innovations, and startling imagery, with which he sought to express the disparity that he felt existed between human aspirations and the limitations imposed on people by biological existence and social organization.
After publishing Fabula salvaje (1923; âSavage Storyâ), a short psychological novel about the decline of a mentally disturbed Indian, Vallejo left for Paris and never returned to his native land. Life in Paris was difficult for him; he barely made a living from translations, language tutoring, and political writing. But while he felt like an outsider because of his Indian heritage, he succeeded in establishing contacts with leading avant-garde artists. He kept in touch with Peru by publishing articles in Amauta, the journal founded by his friend JosĂ© Carlos MariĂĄtegui, founder of the Peruvian Communist Party.
Vallejo came to believe that the language of poetry should be devoid of all traditional devices in its description of the human condition, and that literature should also serve the cause of the masses. Marxism seemed to him to be the only way of rectifying the abuses and injustices he saw in society, and two visits to Russia in 1928 and 1929 served to reinforce his political commitment. He joined the Communist Party in 1931.
Vallejo was expelled from Paris in 1930 as a political militant and went to Madrid. There he wrote the proletarian novel El tungsteno (1931; Tungsten), showing the brutal exploitation and degradation of Indian workers at a Peruvian tungsten mine. He returned to Paris in 1932, and he then spent two years in Spain during that nationâs civil war (1936â39). The Spanish Civil War inspired most of his last important volume of poetry, Poemas humanos (1939; Human Poems), which presents an apocalyptic vision of an industrial society in crisis and unable to advance beyond a state of mass evil, alienation, and despair.
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Most of the poems of the 1930s were published only after Vallejoâs death. His fiction is collected in Novelas y cuentos completos (1970; âComplete Novels and Storiesâ) and his poetry in Obra poĂ©tica completa (1974; âComplete Poetical Worksâ). The Complete Posthumous Poetry (1978) is an English translation by Clayton Eshleman and JosĂ© Rubia Barcia.